If you’re one of the 60,000 Americans diagnosed with Parkinson’s or have a loved one suffering from this disease, then it’s likely you’ll want to know the treatment options available.
Rest assured you’re in the right place because throughout this blog post we’ll be exploring some of the Parkinson’s disease treatment option available.
So without further ado, let’s dive on in!
Parkinsons disease can cause ‘freezing’ which in turn makes both walking and balancing harder.
However, appropriate exercise and physical therapy will help the sufferer to cope better with the freezing. With proper Parkinson’s disease treatment, anyone affected by this disease can begin walking without as much pain or difficulty.
Typically, a physical therapist can help patients avoid tripping, stumbling, falling, etc. by helping to teach them to take bigger steps while they’re walking.
We also recommend that if you have Parkinson’s disease, you join an exercise class tailored to those suffering from this affliction. This would be especially useful if you’re taking levodopa.
The exercise will help your body to re-learn and remember your motor skills. This, in turn, will help make walking easier.
There are a few things you can do to help to avoid freezing. For example:
Often, patients with Parkinson’s disease suffer from anxiety and worry about freezing up. When this happens, this can increase the amount of freezing you suffer from.
Hence, a vicious circle starts to occur. So, try and tackle the anxiety, and the freezing will hopefully decrease.
If you think you’re suffering from this, be sure to consult your doctor and perhaps consider taking a course of cognitive behavioral therapy.
As previously discussed, exercise is of paramount importance. In fact, it’s currently the only therapy that drastically reduces the risk of a fall.
As we all know, exercise has a calming effect on the brain. However, it can also help patients regain some of the reflexes needed to maintain balance.
Interestingly, there’s an increasing body of evidence that suggests aerobic and learning-based exercises can help delay the effects of Parkinson’s disease.
You should consider participating in cardiovascular activities as well as sports that promote proper biomechanics, posture, and trunk rotation.
Ideally, you’ll want to try and perform rhythmic and symmetric movements during your workout.
An excellent example of this is dancing in time to music. This is especially useful for tackling stiffness.
You might want to consider the following
However, the below exercises don’t challenge your motor skills as much. Therefore, they’re usually not as beneficial in comparison.
If you want to work on maintaining your balance, then you may want to consider participating in any of the following:
Whatever exercise you decide to pursue just make sure you go for something you can commit to at least two to three times a week. Plus, you need to pick something that’ll make you sweat.
A recent study involving 60 participants aged between 50-80 (who have Parkinson’s disease) tested the effects of aerobic walking on this affliction.
The patients took part in 45-minutes worth of moderate intensity walking, three times a week. This went on for a total of six months.
The researchers measured the following factors:
The results of this research suggest that walking regularly at a brisk pace has the following effects (in some patients):
So, from this, we can assume that this kind of activity is potentially a useful Parkinson’s disease treatment.
Sadly, this disease doesn’t have a cure at present, so it’s vital that further research is conducted in this field so that one day we have a sufficient Parkinson’s disease treatment.
However, for now, the above advice will certainly help you manage the symptoms of this disease.
If this information on Parkinson’s disease treatment has resonated with you, please feel free to request an appointment using the form below and come in and see us.
We would love to help you manage this illness as best you can and provide you with the help and information you need to make the most out of daily life.
Just fill out the contact form, and one of our team of professionals will get back to you as soon as they can.
Alternatively, if you’d like more information on how we could assist you, please check out our services page.